


A Good Man

by Rockinmuffin



Category: OFF (Game)
Genre: Angst, Deviates From Canon, F/M, Gender-neutral Reader, Identity Issues, Multi, Other, POV Second Person, Reader-Insert, Spoilers, Time Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-15
Updated: 2013-11-15
Packaged: 2018-01-01 15:04:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1045330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rockinmuffin/pseuds/Rockinmuffin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When you first meet him, it’s easy to think he’s evil.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Good Man

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the OFF kink meme, to the anon who requested anything with the pairing Player/Tall Mister. Originally given the super creative title of _Tall Mister_.
> 
> I wondered how such a thing would work out, considering the interactions with the Tall Mister seem to be the reenactment of something from the past. Since Dedan saw the Batter as Hugo, who would he see in place of the Player? This was my interpretation.

When you first meet him, it’s easy to think he’s evil; that you’re on the path of righteousness and good and fulfilling your duties as hero by destroying a tyrant with no love for anyone, not even himself. He’s course and monstrous and selfish and you don’t think twice as you command the Batter to swing his wooden bat right into the guardian’s skull, don’t blink when his eyes meet yours and his hand reaches out for you in something that’s not quite desperation. You just coldly stare him down as he wheezes out his last exhale of smoke and his hand falls limp to the ground.

Now, it’s not so easy.

The more you travel this strange world, the more you realize the people who inhabit it are less black and white than they are different shades of grey. The Elsens are as likely to break down and attack as they are to beg for help and the Batter is not exactly the white knight you had first made him out to be.

And the guardians… Well, you’re not so sure what to think of the guardians.

The more you progress, the more you question, but it’s inside the cottage found within The Room when you first truly feel all your doubts catch up with you and weigh you down; when you first run into the memory of the Tall Mister.

This is the man who he was before; before he was Dedan, Guardian of the First Zone. Before honor begot duty begot burden.

It saddens you to think a man who was once so kind could transform into someone so evil and bitter. But, even more than that, it _terrifies_ you to think that he cannot, because if these people aren’t evil then how can you possibly justify yourself and your actions to be good?

You watch quietly as Dedan speaks to the Batter as if your companion were a mere child. He sends the Batter off on a simple quest for the day’s date; a quest so simple that you decide he does not need you to guide him. It takes some convincing to get the Batter to leave you—a lot of eye-rolling and hand-waving and a promise to keep Alpha at your side—but eventually, under your instruction, he sets off to retrieve the calendar page without you.

It’s the first time since you’ve started this game that the Batter has left your side.

It’s strange, but sort of freeing. The Batter’s expectations of you are as burdensome as they are flattering and it’s nice to have a moment to take the weight of his mission off of your shoulders.

The Tall Mister does not see you and, therefore, expects nothing of you. You just watch as he shuffles about the building, humming a song that sounds hopeful yet bittersweet. It soothes and calms you.

You close your eyes and enjoy the moment. Alpha hovers silently over your shoulder.

Like all moments, it does not last. The Batter returns with the calendar page and is given an old book for his troubles. It’s so worn-down you can’t read the title on the cover but it’s a real honest-to-god book; not a fake one like those found in the massive library of the second zone. It smells like dust and dead kings and knowledge.

It’s obvious what needs to be done next; one of the simpler puzzles the game has given to you to solve. Another dismissive wave of your hand and the Batter is sent on his way to deliver the book to the Bird. He doesn’t leave before sending a pointed look your way. You stare back dully until he finally turns away.

When the Batter leaves the room for a second time, the Tall Mister turns to you, acknowledging your presence for the first time since you’ve entered the run-down shack of his memory.

“Ah, Vader, it’s good to see you. You just missed Hugo. He helped me with an errand then ran off to play.” He smiles as best as his teeth will allow. “Such a nice boy. You’ve done a good job raising him.”

You blink.

The same phenomena that made Dedan believe the Batter was a child is now making him believe that you are the child’s mother. Alpha continues to hover by your side, but is otherwise unseen.

“Thank you,” you reply, because what else _can_ you say? You know little of the child and even less of his mother. As far as you can tell, she’s not around enough for much to be known about her in the first place. For the first time since you’ve started playing the game, you feel as if you know nothing at all.

So you keep quiet.

He interprets your silence as worry.

“Hugo’s a good boy; a _strong_ boy.” His eyes are gentle as he speaks. “He’ll be okay. I promise you, he’ll be okay.”

You’re trying to put all the pieces together. You’re still not quite sure who Hugo is, or his significance to this strange world, but you think you’re close to figuring it out. “You’ll protect him?” you ask, more curious than anything else.

“With my life,” he says with so much conviction you choke on your own inhale because when the words leave his mouth all you see is his battered corpse in your mind’s eye.

You can’t breathe. Every intake of air comes up short; choked-up half-gasps that leave your lungs stinging.

He’s dead. He’s dead and it’s your fault.

He was course and monstrous and selfish and evil but he was also a good man with hopes and dreams and love in his heart. But you didn’t see that then; you weren’t even willing to consider the possibility. All you knew was that you and the Batter were protagonists and Dedan was the antagonist and so he needed to be defeated. He was an obstacle that needed to be overcome in order to progress through the game.

And you didn’t hesitate because you believed so strongly that you and the Batter had to be heroes so Dedan must have been evil.

You don’t know who’s good or who’s evil anymore. All you know now is that he’s dead and you killed him and your heart is aching harder than your lungs.

“I’m sorry,” you breathe. “I’m so, so sorry.”

The air shifts around you as the Tall Mister moves closer to you. You feel his breath warm on your cheek. “Hush now. You’ve done nothing to me worth apologizing for.”

You look at the ground because you can’t look at him. “Maybe not yet, but I will. And no apologies will ever be able to make it right.”

His hands reach for you, grasp your chin gently in the warmth of his rough palms. You have no choice but to meet his gaze.

It makes you feel sick and safe simultaneously.

“There is nothing you could ever do that would upset me.” The look in his eyes is something akin to devotion and you’re not sure how to respond, so you don’t.

And then he’s kissing you.

It’s wrong. He thinks you’re someone else. You’re tainting the memories of a dead man; a man you ordered dead, watched die, felt satisfaction in his death. You have no right to take this, to enjoy the way his hand cradles you in his hold while his teeth chatter against your bottom lip.

When he pulls away, he looks sheepish, regretful. “Forgive this fool his insolence,” he pleads, fingertips drawing back yet still hovering at the edge of your skin. “You are too good a woman for me, Vader Eloha.”

He steps back, turns away, and you want to reach out to him, pull him back, but it’s not your place to do so. You are not Vader Eloha.

Your fists clench at your sides for lack of anything better to do.

“Dedan.” He looks back at you over his shoulder. “You’re a good man. Don’t you ever forget that.”

Whatever he might’ve said is interrupted by the fluttering of thousands of wings like thunder crackling through the sky. The Bird and his friends arrive with the Big Mister, carefully placing him on the ground before all but the Bird fly off. He and the Big Mister enter the shack. The Batter follows shortly after.

You listen numbly as the three speak of utopia, wishing their words could be true yet knowing that none of their stories can have happy endings. You wonder what kind of ending your story will have.

You’re silent as you and Batter leave the shack behind.

“You’re crying.”

The Batter’s voice pulls you back from your thoughts.

You swipe your fingertip across your cheek, look at the drop of liquid before wiping it away on your clothes. There are questions in the Batter’s eyes but he does not voice them and for that you are grateful.

Alpha hovers over your shoulder but you shoo the add-on away.

“Come on,” you say, your back to the shack as you walk forward. “Let’s finish what we started.”

The Batter nods and follows.


End file.
